Mid Beds swimmers shine at British Gas National Championships

Eleanor Wase (12) from Baldock, impressed in the 100m freestyle event at the British Gas ASA Age Group Championships. In the heats, she went into the water 11th fastest on paper and needed to win her heat to be in with a chance of making the final because the girls in the following heat were all faster. She produced a storming swim to qualify fastest for the final with an amazing time of 1.01.47.

After a nail biting swim in the final, Ellie finished in bronze medal position in an extremely close race. Her time of 1.00.99 took 0.48 off her heat time and was 2.62 secs off her entry time making her the 3rd fastest 12 yr old in the country.

In the 100m backstroke event Ellie swam another excellent race setting a personal best time of 1.10.79 finishing 12th. Head coach Caroline Sale said ‘Ellie has had a fabulous end to her season and I know that everyone will want to join me in saying ‘well done’!’

In the Open Water event at Rother Valley Country Park, Alice Merchant (18) of Silsoe put in a stirling performance at in the 2k event to finish 13th in a time of 25:22:55, despite suffering from a bout of tonsillitis, Caroline Sale said ‘This is an excellent end to her open water season which has seen her swim in 2 elite races at the ‘Great’ swim series as well as 2nd overall at regionals. Well done, Alice.’

In the National Youth Event, Mid Beds were represented by Amber Swales (15) from Biggleswade and Sam Bradley (17) from Luton.

Sam secured places in the finals of the multi disability 400m freestyle, the 200m Individual Medley and the 100m breastroke finishing 5th, 8th and 10th respectively. He also finished 12th in the 100m backstroke and 17th in the 50m freestyle events. Personal best times were achieved in all events apart from the 400m freestyle.

Amber competed in both the 50m and 100m freestyle events. As one of the younger swimmers at this level of competition, she finished 92nd and 91st respectively in a strong field of 107 and 122 swimmers.